The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), one of the 13 flagship programmes of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 commenced trading on January 1, 2021 on the back of the much controversial and distrusted Covid-19. To some alternative thinkers, contemptuously labelled conspiracy theorists whose disdain for the force-fed Big Brother unchallenged absolute narrative, now ignominiously pronounce this as the greatest global hoax that ushered in the 21st century.
Deadlier than the germ-warfare hoax is the minefield through which the AfCFTA must operate to realise a competitive, profitable intra-Africa production and trade that delivers welfare benefits for the citizenry of Africa. These minefields are the fully mutated
Anglo-Saxon multinational corporations, now lately joined by China, that own and control the length and breadth of all of Africa, literally so.
To fulfil the sacrosanct shareholder value by insanely maximising profits they will not broach a challenge by AfCFTA to industrialise and be self-reliant and bring upon the highly developed world unwarranted competition and deflationary stagnation to their economies.
To them Africans have over the centuries been commodified, othered, reduced to a mere statistical coefficient to only consume at a predetermined debt-ridden price to satisfy the shareholder unquenched thirst for the bottom line.
A review of mergers and acquisitions indicates the expansion of multinational corporations from the history of slavery, colonialism and present-day neocolonialism that engages in murderous anti-competitive conduct and abuse their dominance, collusion and market power.
A recent case in point was the extra-judicial murder of Muammar Gaddafi, without a squirm of protest from any global leader, let alone the African leadership. This is a ghastly precedent in the annals of global history specifically so-called Africa’s now muted revolutionary leadership, or, dare I say, collaborating fat cats.
These European and now Chinese multinational corporations are engaged in aggressive mergers and acquisitions in Africa. They command the type of foreign direct investments (FDI), its sequencing, timing, and disbursement at their own terms on Africa’s geography and polity. Africa has no leverage except “mickey mouse” political power where they extract pitiful rents from the slave master corporations.
These mergers and acquisitions are intended to clear off all potential competitors and all small micro-medium enterprises. You wonder why SMMEs lack longevity. They are eaten up by the big fish through a maze of complex prohibitive entry barriers, that are even so daunting for the national competition oversight agencies.
In the power-play of fiercely competitive business the competition authorities can only scratch the surface to substantively influence the ethical behaviour of these cartel juggernauts. They are spoilt for choice across the globe. There is a race to the bottom by other nations state fat cats who allow greater share of profits to be repatriated to the first world instead of the dividends and savings to galvanise Africa’s productive assets.
Our own South African government through the GEAR (growth, employment and redistribution) economic policy allowed the externalisation of its head-quartered companies to relocate to the first world, on a flimsy reason they could easily raise FDI for Africa.
A continental mergers and acquisitions assessment is long overdue. Africa nation states must forfeit their anachronistic small time unworkable sovereignty to an African Union supra-authority with enforceable and sanctioning powers.
We must move hastily, with speed and accuracy.
No single sovereignty in Africa on its own has the wherewithal to be competitive in the global value chains of the multinational corporations. Africa must unite forthwith. This snail pace, slow but sure business will not work.
We have long been outflanked. We took seriously the dictate of Kwame Nkrumah, “Africa must unite”.
But AfCFTA is a façade for African politicians to hoodwink the people with their empty rhetoric and be seen to be relevant. All the civil society organisations, community-based organisations demand and fight for transparency and accountability.
Here’s how the cartel monopolies will continue to frustrate the cross-border intra-Africa trade of regional value chains. They divide markets geographically and never to compete on price and various other terms and conditions.
How will AfCFTA navigate these shark-infested waters that have commodified the black body?
- Mncube is a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg. He writes in his personal capacity.
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